Alli Burgess, El Inde Arizona
With egg prices outpacing paychecks, families may be scrambling when it comes to their backyard Easter egg hunt or holiday brunch.
Parents might have to get creative this year, poaching the stores for plastic eggs in lieu of the traditional dyed boiled eggs.
But it’s not just the Easter Bunny who’s concerned about eggs this year. Eggs have been a huge topic of conversation the last few months with prices hitting a high of around $5.20 a dozen in January after an outbreak of the avian flu killed nearly 53 million egg-laying hens, according to the World Health Organization.
Inflation also has impacted prices, which have since dropped to an average of $2.87 a dozen, according to the federal Department of Agriculture. In Tucson, eggs on March 29 at the Food City on South Sixth Avenue were $3.99 a dozen; Frys on East Grant Road and North First Avenue had them for $3.19.
“Prices aren’t just high for eggs, they’re high for gas at the pump, they’re high for food across the board,” said Dari Duval, an economic impact analyst in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Arizona.
Oro Valley mom Lori Wagoner said she will be cutting by half the number of eggs she and her kids will decorate, supplementing them with plastic eggs.
“Eggs have become the new steak and we’re rationing those,” said Wagoner.
Wagoner has even thought about raising chickens and being able to help her neighborhood with the extra eggs.
Luckily, most community Easter egg hunts across Tucson won’t be affected by egg prices. Many organizations have used plastic eggs filled with candy or toys.
